Tiger & Alligator in an Apartment…

I’ve posted before about the rules for animals in strata schemes (see Are they In or Out ??? Pets in Strata) and about Fantik , the Llama, in the Moscow apartment (see What sound does a Llama make (in an apartment) ?).

But from the land of all things crazy come even more bizarre strata pets.

In Harlem, New York, Police responded to a sequence of bizarre reports that eventually had them capturing a 450 pound (200 plus kilogram) Bengal Tiger that was living in an apartment.  And, it was sharing the place with a 3 foot alligator.

The story goes something like this ...

Police received a call about a dog bite at a 19 storey apartment and found  Antoine Yates in the lobby with a serious injuries to his right leg and arm.  He told them it was caused by a pit bull terrier.  Yates was taken to hospital for treatment and kept overnight.  The next day Police received an anonymous report about a ‘large wild animal being kept somewhere in New York’ and that it ‘was biting people’.  A day later another anonymous call led the Police to Yates’ apartment.

When they arrived there Yates was nowhere to be found and they were told he was keeping a tiger in his apartment by a fourth-floor resident who complained that urine had seeped through her ceiling from Yates' apartment.

Still trying to determine what they were dealing with, police cut a hole in Yates' door and saw the large tiger pass by the open hole.  Apparently the orange tiger looked well-fed and in ‘great shape’ and was seen lying by the window, and contentedly licking its paws.

Police decided to rappel from above and shoot a tranquilizer dart from outside to sedate the tiger.  Officer Martin Duffy got the job, lowering himself from a seventh-floor apartment, armed with a tranquilizer gun and an M-4 rifle. Once at the window, he tapped on it with his shoe to get the tiger's attention and the tiger lunged.

When Police entered the apartment they found the animal unconscious atop a pile of furniture and an alligator was nearby. Both animals were taken to an animal shelter.

Yates was charged with reckless endangerment and Police suspect Yates got the tiger when it was a cub and had lived with it for as long as two years.

There’s a funny YouTube video too.

As they say, only in New York … or at least I hope so!

Francesco …